The present invention relates generally to biomedical device components for use in the human body. More particularly, the invention relates to a method for constructing metal wire with embedded filaments or cavities for biomedical applications.
In the field of biomedical device components, it is important to have biocompatible devices which can be implanted into a human body for various purposes. Biomedical implant devices are well-known in the art, as described in the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,364,902; 6,206,915; 6,203,732; 6,200,338; 6,190,303; 5,873,907; 5,873,904; 5,759,174; 5,735,897; 5,725,572; 5,628,787; 5,607,442; 5,320,100; 5,289,831; 5,047,050; and 3,618,614. Biomedical implant devices have numerous applications and may need to be very small in size depending on the application. It may be beneficial to allow placement of an additional material inside or on the outside surface of the biomedical device. In one instance, a biomedical device may be a metal wire having a concentric core with a secondary material, such as platinum, located therein. To obtain the entire benefit of the device, such as, i.e., radiopacity or fatigue resistance, however, a large amount of the secondary material is needed to permeate the surrounding material of the metal wire. The amount of secondary material required for various applications raises the cost of the biomedical device considerably in some instances. If it were possible to position the secondary material closer to the surface of the metal wire, there would be less surrounding material of the metal wire to permeate, thereby increasing the effectiveness and decreasing the cost of the biomedical device.